The President of India is considered the first citizen of the country. The states of the country are headed by the president, and he is referred to as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, including the Air Force, Navy, and Army. If you are preparing for any government exam, it is essential to know about all presidents of India.
President of India
In India, the elected members of parliament houses elect the president. These parliament houses include Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and Vidhan Sabha. The tenure of an Indian president is five years, as mentioned in article 56 of the Indian Constitution.
The current president of India is Ram Nath Kovind, with an incumbent term from 2017 to 2022. Before him, there have been 13 more presidents in the country. Here is the complete list of all presidents of India from 1947 to 2021.
Full List of Presidents of India
- Dr Rajendra Prasad
He was the first president of India following the country’s independence. After the establishment of the Republic of India in 1950, Dr Rajendra Prasad became the president and worked for 12 years and 107 days till 1962. He is the longest-serving president of India.
- Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Radhakrishnan was the second president of India after Rajendra Prasad. Before becoming a president, he was the vice president. His tenure was from 1962 to 1967 for exact five years.
- Dr Zakir Hussain
He was the first Muslim president of India, but couldn’t complete his tenure. He passed away in 1969, after working for one year and 355 days.
- Varahagiri Venkata Giri
Varahagiri Venkata Giri, who was the VP then, took over as the acting president of India after the election. His tenure was also short. After 78 days, he resigned from the post to participate in the presidential elections.
Till the election of V.V. Giri was in process, Mohammad Hidayatullah, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was the president for 35 days.
- Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was the fifth president with tenure from 1974 to 1977. Before becoming a president, he was the Food and Agriculture Minister. However, he passed away in 1977 before the completion of his tenure. Basappa Danappa Jatti was then the acting president for 164 days.
- Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was the youngest president of India from 1977 to 1982. Before this, he was a Lok Sabha speaker and the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
- Giani Zail Singh
Giani Zail Singh was the seventh president with tenure from 1982 to 1987. Before this, he served as the CM of Punjab.
- Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Venkataraman was the eighth president of India, who also served as the Vice President. Before independence, he was involved in the freedom movement and was prisoned by the Britishers. Venkataraman also served the country as Finance Minister and Defence Minister.
- Shankar Dayal Sharma
He was the ninth president of India with tenure from 1992 to 1997. Before this, he was the CM of Madhya Pradesh, Minister of Communications, as well as Governor of MP, Punjab, and Maharashtra.
- Kocheril Raman Narayanan
KR Narayanan was the first Dalit president of India with tenure from 1997 to 2002. He also worked as India’s ambassador to Thailand, Turkey, China, and the USA.
- APJ Abdul Kalam
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam is considered the best president of India. He served from 2002 to 2007. He played a crucial role in developing programs for ballistic missile and nuclear weapons. Also called People’s President, Kalam was awarded the Bharat Ratna.
- Pratibha Devisingh Patil
Pratibha Patil was the first woman president of India. She served the nation as a president from 2007 to 2012. Before this, she was also the first female Governor of Rajasthan.
- Pranab Kumar Mukherjee
Pranab Mukherjee held several top posts in the government before becoming president in 2012. He completed his tenure in 2017. Before becoming a president, he worked as a Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, as well as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.
- Ram Nath Kovind
RN Kovind is the present president of India who started his tenure in 2017. Kovind is also the second Dalit president of India and the first BJP president. He was also an MP and the Governor of Bihar.
Wrapping up:
We hope you found this list of presidents of India or Rashtrapati of India informative and useful. You must learn and memorize the name of all presidents of India along with their tenure to answer correctly in exams.
Have any questions or doubts related to Indian presidents? Feel free to ask us using the comments below.
